Mick Foley is a former American professional wrestler, a colour commentator and author who is currently signed to WWE. Among Foley’s many bouquets of legacies is being regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of WWE. He was inducted into the class 2013 WWE Hall of Fame; a four-time world champion; an eleven-time world tag team champion; a one-time TNA Legends Champion and the inaugural WWF Hardcore Champion.

Michael Francis Foley was born in Bloomington, Indiana, on June 7, 1965, and was raised by his parents along with his older brother, John Foley. He practically grew up in East Setauket, New York as his family later moved to the city where he attended Ward Melville High School, played lacrosse, and wrestled as an extracurricular.

Career in Wrestling

Foley’s career in wrestling was inspired by his favourite wrestler, Jimmy Snuka. While he was still a student at the State University of New York at Cortland, he would go over to Madison Square Garden to indulge and watch the ring fights.

In his quest to pursue professional wrestling, Foley began a formal training at Dominic DeNucci’s wrestling school in Freedom, Pennsylvania and debuted in 1983, he took part in squash matches as a jobber for WWF TV tapings of Prime Time Wrestling and Superstars of Wrestling. He wrestled for several years using the name, Jack Foley and Nick Foley, facing top level talents including the British Bulldogs and Hercules Hernandez.

At the time, Foley was also wrestling in the independent circuit since he had not signed a contract with the promotion.

However, he finally got his break in the field when he began receiving offers from various regional promotions. Taking a pick at one of the offers, Foley joined the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) using the name, Cactus Jack, where he teamed up with Gary Young as part of the Stud Stable. As Cactus Jack, he would always show up in the ring with a barbed wire baseball bat and later won the 1995 King of the Deathmatch tournament in Yokohama, Japan.

Mick Foley continued wrestling, taking up the name, Mankind, a character Foley claimed was inspired by a combination of reading ‘Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein’ and listening to the music of Tori Amos. He became a 3-time WWE Champion and was best known for his epic and brutal battle with The Undertaker in 1998’s Hell in a Cell match. Foley was knocked unconscious during the fight but he finished it with several injuries including having one of his front teeth lodged in his nose.

What Happened To His Ear?

Foley’s right ear got amputated, in a match dubbed one of the most brutal in WWE, against Vader in Munich, Germany in 1994.

Still wrestling as Cactus, Foley faced Vader in a Texas Death match at Halloween Havoc. His feud with his opponent made the fight so violent that WCW later refused to book him against Vader on a pay-per-view again.

While the two were trading blows, Vader reached up and grabbed Foley’s ear, which already had a nasty cut during the hangman, and ripped it off. Despite that, rather than reattaching his ear, Foley chose to wrestle in the already scheduled fight with Kevin Sullivan and won his only championship in WCW.

Life After Wrestling

Considering he’ll be retiring from the ring soon, Foley delved into writing and the result is his memoir, Have a Nice Day. For one who didn’t have the aid of a ghostwriter, Foley’s memoir hit number one on The New York Times best-seller list in October 1999 and remained on Times list for more than 5 months.

So far the former wrestle mania has written five books including

Foley is Good,

The Hardcore Diaries,

Countdown To Lockdown

Tietam Brown

A Most Mizerable Christmas

With his verbal and literal skills, Mick Foley became guest speaker in Universities and soon moved to the stand-up comedy stage in 2009. He is currently represented by Innovative Artists.

As there are no limits in the entertainment industry, the former wrestler channelled his acting skills and has featured in several movies, TV shows including Celebrity Wife Swap. He has also lent his voice to animated series such as Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Mick Foley and his family are sponsoring children with Child-Fund International and have been doing so for more than two decades.

Net Worth

The veteran wrestler has made several millions of dollars in the course of his career in the ring from 1983–2012; an author from 1999 to present; to an actor from 1996 to present.

His annual salary is pegged at $1 million and his net worth is an estimated $15 million. He currently lives in the East Setauket, a posh neighbourhood in New York and has a modest collection of luxurious cars.

Mick Foley’s Wife

Foley has been married to former model Colette since 1992 and together they have four children Noelle Margaret, Dewey Francis, Hughie Francis, and Michael Francis Foley Jr.

Daughter

His daughter Noelle Margaret Foley is quite an adult now and is making her marks on social media. Already, she commands up to 859k followers on Instagram and seems pretty much interested in following her father’s footstep in the world of wrestling. With her six-frame and fine curves, she is described as one who can be considered for the Intercontinental Championship. But from her sexy poise on her IG page, I’d say, modelling is more like it for the 23-year old.

But the little girl who cried more than a decade ago when she watched her dad being hit with a chair in the ring, is now becoming pro wrestling herself.

The entire Foley family are also starring in a reality show, Holy Foley, based on life in the Foley family’s Smithtown home. It premiered in 2016 on WWE Network. Noelle’s wrestling training is filmed throughout the series with the theme focused on the unique daughter-father bond.